


Playing With Matches

by HawthorneWhisperer



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Tinder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 06:33:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10634250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HawthorneWhisperer/pseuds/HawthorneWhisperer
Summary: Jasper swipes right on Roan for Raven; shenanigans ensue.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alienor_woods](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alienor_woods/gifts).



Raven rubbed her eyes and glared at her monitor.  Next to her, Monty did the same, his desk surrounded by a pile of red bulls and vending machine wrappers.  Their revisions were due to the journal by midnight and they had been locked in the closet the campus called their “office” for the past six hours, making sure all the calculations added up and cursing the formatting the journal required.  Jasper had swung by an hour ago to say hello but Raven wasn’t in the mood for distractions so she tossed him her phone and told him he could play Pokemon Shuffle until they were finished.

“I think we’re done,” Monty said, and Raven nodded just as Jasper giggled.  

She ignored him for the moment.  “I think you’re right— submit?”

“Submit,” Monty confirmed, and he tapped his mouse with a relieved sigh.

Jasper giggled again and Raven spun in her chair.  “There’s no way Pokemon Shuffle is funny,” she said.

Jasper shrugged and typed away at her phone.  “That’s because I switched to Tinder.  Hope you like old pirates,” he snorted.

“You what?” Raven snatched her phone back with a glare that made him quail.  

“Jasper,” Monty sighed disapprovingly.

“What?  She can just ghost on him,” Jasper protested.

Raven scrolled through tinder, attempting to ascertain the damage.  “Pirate” was a weirdly accurate descriptor for him, although describing 30 as “old” felt uncharitable. He had somewhat longer hair than she normally liked on guys, but he had a decent job— lawyer at a firm Clarke had clerked for a few summers ago— and he had refrained from posting any shirtless pictures even though the ones he had posted (suits, mostly, but one in a tightly-fitted v-neck shirt at the base of a cliff) left no doubt his body appeared to be  _ insane _ .

She sent Jasper another glower when she checked the messages, because he’d opened with  _ hey handsome ;) _ like that was something she would  _ ever _ say.  It had taken Roan a solid 20 minutes to reply with just an innocuous  _ hey yourself _ .  Jasper hadn’t gotten much farther than that— he hadn’t asked the poor guy out or anything— so he was right, she could just ghost.  She considered apologizing, but  _ my friend swiped right on you as a joke _ seemed unnecessarily mean.  

Instead she closed the app without responding to his latest message ( _ what’s your dissertation about?  Although I must confess I know precious little about electrical engineering _ , which was both oddly formal and weirdly endearing at the same time) and checked the time.  “The Ark is still open for another hour and I bet Miller is working,” she told the boys.  “Want to go be Monty’s wingman until close?  Jasper’s buying.”

“I am?”

“After what you just pulled?  Definitely.”

* * *

 

It took her a little bit to place him.  Raven was used to people at the gym looking vaguely familiar— most people went to the gym as a matter of routine, so you saw the same general group of people day after day.  But she felt like she’d remember a body like his, because even though he was wearing a shirt the sweat-soaked material clung to his skin in a way that left nothing to the imagination.

And there was, quite frankly, a lot to imagine.

He climbed off the treadmill and turned around, revealing a ponytail, and her brain clicked it into place.  He was the Tinder guy, his last question still lingering in her chat unanswered.  He stopped by the water cooler and gave her a polite nod when he noticed her watching, and Raven felt a blush start to crawl up her neck.  She finished her reps on the machine, her gaze fixed on the row of barbells across the gym, and stood up only to find him standing three feet away, waiting.  “Can I help you?” she asked, slightly more sharply than she intended.  

“Just waiting to see if I could use this machine,” he said evenly.

“Oh, right.  Just— here, let me wipe it down,” she said, and grabbed the small towel she carried to do just that.  He waited politely until she stepped back.

“Do I know you?” he asked, tossing his own towel down. 

“Uh...I think we matched on Tinder,” Raven mumbled.  

“Oh right, the grad student,” he said, settling down onto the seat and grasping the bars.  He’d upped the weight to an absolutely ridiculous amount but pressed the bars forward seemingly without effort.  “Nice to meet you,” he said, and Raven gave him a slightly awkward wave before continuing about her circuit.  She felt uncomfortably aware of him no matter where he was in the gym, but Roan paid her no more attention.  Which was officially what she wanted, but also somehow...not.

* * *

 

That night, Raven stared at her phone for a solid five minutes before making a decision.  She picked it up, opened Tinder, and tapped out a response to his question about her dissertation, trying to strike a balance between technical jargon and laymen’s terms.  

Roan responded three minutes later.   _ I understood about half of that.  If you ever want to get drinks and explain the other half, let me know _ .

She chewed on the inside of her cheek and narrowed her eyes.  Her answer had been a test and somewhat annoyingly, he’d passed.  It was amazing how few men would admit they didn’t know anything about her field, and she’d sort of figured he’d be one of the ones who tried to teach  _ her _ something about electrical engineering, despite having majored in what she guessed was probably econ or poli sci.  But he’d even asked her to explain it, which was technically the correct answer.

She closed the app without responding.

* * *

 

Niylah squeezed through the crowd to their table.  Bellamy shifted a few inches away from Clarke, as if Niylah would care, and Raven smothered a smile.  “Just so you know, someone covered your tab for the night, so if you want to order the top shelf shit, now’s your chance,” Niylah said over the din.  She pointed towards a crowd of suits in the corner and the three of them craned their necks to see.

At first they looked like an indistinguishable mass of lawyers, although Raven wasn’t about to tell the lawyer sitting across from her that.  But then she saw a familiar sharp profile and shrank down in the booth.  “We’ll take another round and then Raven’s gonna spill,” Clarke told Niylah.  Across the bar, Roan made eye contact and raised his beer to her in a silent salute.

Clarke lifted her eyebrows in question and Bellamy sent a glower in Roan’s general direction.  “Spill,” she ordered, and Raven sighed.

“He’s just some guy I met on Tinder.”

“And you hooked up with him and now he won’t leave you alone?”  Bellamy’s protectiveness was rearing its head, and she hastened to explain.

“No, Jasper picked him as a joke.  I obviously didn’t tell him that, but I ran into him at the gym and then messaged him the other night.”

“And?” Clarke prompted.

“And what?  And nothing.  He’s just some guy.”

Clarke furrowed her brow in thought.  “Is his name Roan?”

“Yeah.  Why?”

Clarke sent Bellamy a look.  “Then he’s Nia Glazer’s son.  My old boss, remember?  The Glazer of Glazer and Associates.”

“So then he’s a dick,” Bellamy supplied.

“Not necessarily.  Nia was goddawful, but he wouldn’t come to the firm when she was working there.  I heard he came in last year as part of a buyout-slash-hostile-takeover.”

“From his own mother?” Bellamy asked.

Clarke accepted the drinks from a returning Niylah with a nod.  “He’s got a decent reputation,” she continued.  “And he’s definitely even richer than me, so we should feel no guilt about accepting this.”

“Unless Raven doesn’t want us to,” Bellamy added and looked at her.  

Roan had made no move to come over to them, and in fact wasn’t even looking in her direction anymore.  She scowled.  “It’s fine, I’ll go— I’ll go talk to him.”  She pushed out of the booth and wound her way over to where he was talking to several other men and women, all in expensive looking suits.  

But Roan turned just as she approached and gave her a flicker of a smile.  She got the sense he wasn’t a man who smiled easily or often, but just the softening of his lips managed to speak volumes.  “What’s your game?” she asked, pitching her voice so the others couldn’t hear her.

“My game?” he asked, tipping his head forward to hear her better.

“Did you think if you bought me and my friends drinks I’d be like, obligated to have sex with you?”

Roan looked surprised.  “You said you were a grad student, and from what I know about that life it doesn’t pay terribly well.  I just wanted to be nice.  I can tell the bartender not to bother, if it makes you uncomfortable.”   _ I just wanted to be nice _ .  Raven felt that  _ nice _ was not really a word in this man’s vocabulary, but it still sounded genuine.  He watched her carefully for a second and then continued.  “I’d like to get to know you better, but if you want me to back off, just say the word.”

“It’s not— that’s not it,” she stumbled. Normally she was all confidence when dealing with men but this guy had her feeling out of sorts in a way she hadn’t felt in a long time.  He wasn’t her usual type—she used to liked sweet natured good guys like Finn and Wick, but both of those had imploded so she’d sworn them off.  She’d tried to give bad boys a shot too, but Bellamy had turned out to be nothing of the sort.  But this guy didn’t seem to fit into either category.  He didn’t have Finn’s earnestness or wear his heart on his sleeve like Wick, and she hadn’t seen even a hint of a tattoo or a wild side at the gym.  And he also seemed...honest.  Straightforward.  Uncomplicated, but definitely not simple.  “I just didn’t want you to think we were playing a game, or something,” she replied.

Roan leveled his gaze at her.  “I don’t play games,” he said in a tone that sent a not-unpleasant shiver down her spine.

“Well, thanks,” she said, again sounding slightly more hostile than she intended, but it didn’t seem to scare him away.

“You’re welcome, Raven,” Roan said, and she felt his eyes on as she walked back to her seat.  Clarke and Bellamy picked up their previous conversation as if she’d never left, and Raven half listened to them bicker about whatever the hell they were bickering about this time and brooded.  When they were thoroughly distracted she grabbed her phone and opened Tinder before she could second guess herself.   _ If you’re serious about this, how about here, tomorrow at 8pm? _

She watched him for his reaction, and at first it seemed like he was going to ignore her.  He didn’t pull out his phone until his friend turned to say something to someone else, and after he read it his eyes automatically darted over to her.  Roan looked down, typing, and then slipped his phone back into his breast pocket.

Her phone vibrated with a notification.   _ Tomorrow it is. _

* * *

 

Raven arrived before Roan and took a seat at the bar.  Niylah was working again, which set her at ease a little.  She was a calming presence and was good at interrupting terrible dates to bail you out of a jam.  Raven was hoping things with Roan wouldn’t go that badly, but it was always nice to have back up just in case.  She had just ordered her drink— a Guinness— when Roan slid onto the stool next to her.

For a moment, it was awkward.  He signaled Niylah and it seemed like they were both waiting for the other person to talk, but then a brief smile flashed across his face and he cocked his head to the side.  “So you promised to explain your research to me,” he ventured, and Raven brightened.  She wasn't the best at small talk, but her research was her baby.  She started with her article with Monty— that one had real world applications so it was easier for non-engineers to understand— before moving into the more theoretical aspects.  Roan listened intently, occasionally throwing out a question or asking her to repeat something.  At one point he pulled out a pen and drew a circuit on his napkin, holding it out for her to inspect and make sure he grasped the concept.

At no point did he pretend he understood something he clearly didn’t, nor did he try and one up her.  All too often, she’d found, men confused pride with confidence and felt the need to try and prove they already knew what she was talking about, but Roan didn’t.  He seemed perfectly at ease with his complete lack of knowledge, and while she knew she lost him towards the end he put up a good showing.  She felt like Roan wouldn’t pout that she got an NSF fellowship for a solid week the way Wick had, and when she asked him about his job he launched into an explanation of corporate law.  It wasn’t the most interesting topic, but she appreciated his passion.   He liked what he did and he was good at it, and above all else Raven respected competence.

She insisted on paying for the first round, but she let him buy the second.  It was weird— they had  _ nothing _ in common but somehow they had plenty to talk about.  He liked to go rock climbing, for fuck’s  sake, and even before her accident she’d never have been caught dead doing something like that.  And Roan had barely even heard of MarioKart, much less Dragon Age.  She mentioned that Clarke had worked for his mother, and he snorted.  “My apologies to your friend,” he said, so okay, they had “shitty moms” in common but really, nothing else.

And yet.

The crowd changed over, from older grad students and professionals to a younger, louder crew, and still they were talking.  He seemed interested in everything she had to say in a way that was flattering, and she found herself just as interested in him.  So when she realized they were half shouting to be heard over the crowd she made a decision.  “Walk me home?” she asked with an arched brow.

He considered her for a second.  He did that a lot, she’d realized, because he tended to  _ think _ before responding to things.  She trusted her gut more often than not, but for some reason his measured consideration didn’t bug her.   He nodded, his eyes flashing, and she let him pay for their last round.  (He’d mentioned both a summer home by the shore  _ and _ a condo in Tahoe while she considered herself lucky to have money left on her stipend at the end of August so yeah, she was definitely fine with him paying a little more than her share.)

They kept talking outside, and she told him a story about Jasper and Monty that brought him to honest-to-god-giggles, with a smile that completely changed his face.  It made her heart twist a little, and for the first time she wondered if this might be something more than just a decent date and some sex.  Roan took her hand as they waited to cross the street, his thumb sweeping across her knuckles, and she grinned to herself.

They stopped on her front porch.  She lived with three other women in her program but it didn’t seem like anyone else was home tonight— or if they were, they were in bed already.  The house was dark save for the porchlight above their heads, buzzing quietly.  She tipped her chin up, bold and inviting, and waited for Roan to make the first move.

He didn’t disappoint.  His lips were gentle but firm, his hands coming to cup her jaw delicately as he kissed her.  She was only an inch or two shorter than him but still he managed to crowd her back against the door, his shoulders broad under her touch.  His beard was softer than she’d anticipated and she liked the feel of it against her skin while his tongue sought hers.  

Raven broke away to unlock the door and lead him up to her bedroom, and the second she shut her bedroom door he was kissing her again, hungry and deep.  She peeled off his shirt— she was right, his body was  _ insane _ — and he kissed his way down her throat with the air of a man who knew what he was doing.

And god, did he  _ know _ .  He settled between her legs and made her come twice, first with his tongue and then again with his fingers, coaxing her to second peak so quickly they faded into one another, ripples on a pond surging into waves that dulled her other senses.  He found a condom in her nightstand and then pushed into her, arranging her good hip around his waist for leverage and thrusting deep— so deep it took her breath away.  Raven dug her nails into his back and urged him on, and when he came his eyes turned so soft and tender it was almost hard for her to see.  He kissed her again then, long and slow, and pulled out to throw away the condom.  

Raven grabbed her crutch and slipped out to her bathroom, but when she returned she was surprised to see him still naked, lounging in her bed.  She’d pegged him for a “leave immediately after” sort of man, but he just pulled her back under the covers and brushed her hair back from her forehead.  “Did you want me to leave?” he asked.

“Do you want to?” she threw back.  

“I’m not much of a cuddler,” he replied.

“That’s not an answer.”

Roan laughed, and god, she really liked that stupid smile and wanted to see it again.  “I think I would like to stay,” he said.  “But I’m not much for sleeping all tangled together, and I don’t want to hurt your feelings.”

Raven’s chest loosened.  She never really liked falling asleep in someone else’s arms and always wondered if that made her cold and heartless.  Whenever guys draped their heavy arm over her waist she would lie awake, counting the seconds until they were asleep so she could wriggle out and finally fall asleep on her own. “Thank god.  That’s your side,” she announced and pointed to the empty pillow, but Roan didn’t let go.  “What?  I thought you said you didn’t like cuddling.”

“When we fall asleep, yeah.  But some post-coital snuggling is fine.”

Raven lifted her head and quirked an eyebrow.  “I feel like you saying  _ snuggling _ is somehow wrong,” she teased, and he smiled again, cuffing a hand behind her neck and drawing her down for a kiss.

"You'll find I'm a man of many mysteries," he laughed, and she curled into his shoulder, his heart thumping steadily under her ear.

She definitely owed Jasper a beer.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to Chash and Jenn for their consultations on videogames and how tinder works, respectively.
> 
> (Also, yes, the title is a pun. I will accept your thanks in the comments).


End file.
